Trapped
The Grange Co-op was on fire. Steve Shafer and two other firefighters drug a hose line through an open bay door and disappeared into the thick black smoke. The thick smoke severely limited their visibility. They were feeling their way, peering through the darkness, looking for any sign of light from the flames that waited for them inside. It was all textbook so far, except for one thing, they couldn’t find the fire. They could feel the heat, there was dense smoke, but try as they might, no fire could be found.
Because he had only been on the department one year, it was Steve Shafer’s job to operate the nozzle on the 2 1/2 inch line taken into the Grange Co-Op, on South Pacific Highway, in Medford, Oregon. The Grange, as the locals called it, was a large retail store and warehouse that sold agricultural supplies.
Steve’s crew took a path that resembled the letter J. After working their way 150 feet deep into the structure, and still finding no flames, they decided to retreat back outside. In a situation such as this, firefighters are trained to follow the hose back out of the building, but Steve thought he could take a short cut across the hook of the J. So he dropped the nozzle, and headed for what he thought was the way out. He didn’t make it far. After a few moments he bumped into a wall. “Not good,” he thought to himself. He turned around and headed back in the general direction of the hose line, but somehow he missed it.
“By now I was totally disoriented,” Steve said. “I had no idea which way to go.”
He felt his way until he found a large roll up door, but it had a padlock on it. It was around this time his low-air warning-bell started ringing.
“So my low-air bell’s going off, and the roll up doors had these little narrow 4″ x 12″ windows in them,” Steve said. “I’m looking through them to the outside, but I can’t see anybody.” Read More
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Love Like Jesus–A Burning Hand, Luck, Nike, and a Sundial in the Shade
Risk
So you’re trying to figure out what God wants to see you doing with your life. You’re trying to figure out what it is you’re supposed to be doing. You’re always wondering what that might be, and you’re worried your true talent will remain undiscovered: “a sundial in the shade,” as Benjamin Franklin once put it.
But when you mentioned your idea to that family member, he raised an eyebrow. When you told that friend about your dream, it was met with criticism. And that made you afraid. You’re afraid of what people will say, and what people will think. You’re afraid you’ll fail. And, maybe most of all, you’re afraid of leaving the familiar. You know you can keep doing what you’re doing, currently. But that other path, that other life, well, you just never know what bad thing might befall you.
Move or Die
Late one night my friend Mitch Arnold was on the nozzle at a fire in a large sprawling old house, just outside of town. He had two other firefighters backing him as he made his way up the stairs to the second story bedroom where the fire was. But just as he passed through the doorway into the burning room, the roof collapsed, tearing the nozzle out of his hand, stripping off one of his gloves, and cutting him off from the other two firefighters. He was also cut off from his exit. The room was filled with fire, and the hose, his source of water and protection, was now buried under the rubble. Immediately he felt the heat on his unprotected hand. To shield it, he curled up face down on the floor, pressing his hand tightly against his chest. As long as he remained in that position, his hand was protected from the heat. He stayed that way for a few moments. And then, he told me, this thought came into his mind, Read More
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Posted on September 21, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
Christian living, Christianity, God wants you to take a risk, Love like Jesus, parable of the talents, Take a risk to love like Jesus
Love Like Jesus–How a Shrink Radically Changed My Perspective on Fatherhood Forever
The Part of Us That Wants to Avoid Our Kids
For some of us dads, the responsibility of getting our kids to undress, take a bath, jump into their PJs, brush their teeth, and get into bed is ours, and ours alone. One writer describes the situation this way,
I remember when my kids were in diapers. I looked for opportunities to trade shifts with other firefighters, Read More
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Posted on September 14, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
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Love Like Jesus–Stay Married
The connecting link with my old self has always been the memory of the name I took on back there: “I am he who will be there with you.” When we slough off that name, lose that identity, we can hardly find ourselves again.” -Lewis Smedes
How Jesus Loved People Read More
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Posted on September 7, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
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Christian marriage, Love like Jesus, marriage, Marriage counseling, Stay married
The 5th Day of Creation: The Holy Spirit and Bearing Fruit
From the archives, one of our most popular posts:
Scientists are conceding they have grossly underestimated the quantity and diversity of marine life in the ocean. Research scientists from 80 different countries are undertaking a huge census of ocean life around the world. Called the Census of Marine Life, the census effort began in 2000, and ten years later, scientists continue to be amazed at the numbers and varieties of new species they’ve found. In the first three years of the study 160 new species of fish were found each year. That’s about 3 new species discovered every week. As the census has progressed, new species of marine life are being discovered at an even greater rate. One study found 700 new species of crustaceans in an area the size of a small bathroom. (Census of Marine Life) Read More
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Posted on August 31, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, Genesis
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Love Like Jesus–How a Woman’s Prayer Saved a Firefighter’s Life
The Grange Co-op was on fire. Steve Shafer and two other firefighters drug a hose line through an open bay door and disappeared into the thick black smoke. The thick smoke severely limited their visibility. They were feeling their way, peering through the darkness, looking for any sign of light from the flames that waited for them inside. It was all textbook so far, except for one thing, they couldn’t find the fire. They could feel the heat, there was dense smoke, but try as they might, no fire could be found.
Because he had only been on the department one year, it was Steve Shafer’s job to operate the nozzle on the 2 1/2 inch line taken into the Grange Co-Op, on South Pacific Highway, in Medford, Oregon. The Grange, as the locals called it, was a large retail store and warehouse that sold agricultural supplies.
Steve’s crew took a path that resembled the letter J. After working their way 150 feet deep into the structure, and still finding no flames, they decided to retreat back outside. In a situation such as this, firefighters are trained to follow the hose back out of the building, but Steve thought he could take a short cut across the hook of the J. So he dropped the nozzle, and headed for what he thought was the way out. He didn’t make it far. After a few moments he bumped into a wall. “Not good,” he thought to himself. He turned around and headed back in the general direction of the hose line, but somehow he missed it.
“By now I was totally disoriented,” Steve said. “I had no idea which way to go.”
He felt his way until he found a large roll up door, but it had a padlock on it. It was around this time his low-air warning-bell started ringing.
“So my low-air bell’s going off, and the roll up doors had these little narrow 4″ x 12″ windows in them,” Steve said. “I’m looking through them to the outside, but I can’t see anybody.” Read More
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Posted on August 24, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
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Love Like Jesus–Jesus and the General
Chinese Terracotta Warrior from Xi’an’, Drents Museum in Assen
Read the story of raising Lazarus from the dead.
The Love of a General
The Chaplain said, “When I was studying to lead my unit in the war, we were required to read an ancient story about a Chinese general named Wu Chi. One of Wu Chi’s soldiers was suffering from a battle wound that had abscessed. Wu Chi himself cared for the wound even sucking out the infection. The soldier’s mother, hearing this, wailed and lamented. Somebody asked her, ‘Why do you cry? Your son is only a common soldier, and yet the commander-in-chief himself has sucked the poison from his sore.’ The woman responded, ‘Many years ago Lord Wu performed a similar service for my husband, who never left him afterwards, and finally met his death at the hands of the enemy. And now that he has done the same for my son, he too will fall fighting I know not where.” (Sun Tzu, as cited in Traveler and the Chaplain)
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Posted on August 17, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
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Art of War, Jesus love, Lazarus, Love like Jesus, Raise Lazarus, Sun Tzu
Love Like Jesus–Make Friends With Money
How Jesus Loved People
So what were the Pharisees sneering at? Jesus had just made the statement, “You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13)
And the Pharisees loved money.
So they sneered.
You know what, I’ve noticed many of us Christians have a tendency to tap dance around the topic of greed. Maybe that’s partly because of it’s subtlety. We all need money to live, right? But how do you know when you’ve stepped over the line? “When someone commits adultery,” says Timothy Keller, “they don’t say, ‘Oh, hey, wait a second, you’re not my wife!'” But when we get greedy, sometimes, it’s hard to recognize it. But honestly, that’s probably not the main reason we tap dance around the issue. We’ll get to that later. Read More
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Posted on August 10, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
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Love Like Jesus and Failed Romance
A Failed Romance
We all knew that guy. He’s the guy from high school who had the huge crush on a girl. During lunch he followed her around the cafeteria–like a puppy following someone with raw meat stuck to their shoe. In the evening, if she didn’t return his call within twenty minutes he started to panic. During the day, he checked his post on Facebook every five minutes to see if she gave it a like.
He smelled of desperation. Which of course had the opposite effect he desired.
Jesus, never did that.
How Jesus Loved People Read More
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Posted on August 3, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too, Marriage
Christian living, free will, God and free will, let go, Love like Jesus
The Holy Spirit: How to Know if You Have Him
Pentacost by Jean II Restout (Photo Credit Wikipedia)
One of our most popular posts. From the Archives:
At church the other night our pastor directed anyone interested in receiving prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to go to the prayer room after the service.
I was amazed. Read More
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Posted on July 27, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, I Wish Someone Had Told Me This When I Was Young
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Love Like Jesus: No Family or Rich Friends Allowed
Kids in the Park
Family’s Softball Game Has Higher Attendance Than Cubs Game
There’s an old joke about a couple who couldn’t have kids. They sought the help of their pastor who said he would fast and pray the last day of every month until they conceived. Shortly thereafter the husband of the couple took a job in another town, so the couple and the pastor lost touch.
One year of fasting in this fashion passed. Finally, the pastor ran into the woman who couldn’t have kids. He asked if anything happened and she shared they had a set of triplets, and not only that but she was twelve weeks pregnant, and not only that but her doctor said she might be pregnant with twins. The pastor was overjoyed. He asked where her husband was so he could find him and congratulate him. She said, Read More
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Posted on July 20, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
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Love Like Jesus: Grace for a Trespass
Augustin Tünger: Facetiae Latinae et Germanicae, Konstanz 1486, Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart, Cod. HB V 24a. – Illustration from the life of St. Peter: Saint Peter paying a fee by extracting coins from the mouth of a fish. Image via wiki commons.
The temple tax collectors approached Peter and asked him directly, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the Temple tax?”
Peter was on the spot. He didn’t really know if Jesus intended to pay the Temple tax or not. But instead of confessing he didn’t know, he decided to wing it. Sure he does, Peter said.
That was quite an assumption. And that must have been quite a long walk home, wondering the whole way back what Jesus really thought about the Temple tax.
Upon his return, as Peter walks in the door I can see in my mind Jesus chuckling to himself. What do you think Simon? Jesus asks. Who do the kings of the earth collect taxes from–from their own kids, or from others? Read More
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Posted on July 13, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too, Marriage
Christian living, grace, Jesus, Matthew 17, temple tax
Love Like Jesus: Jesus Did Not Love Everybody the Same
How Jesus Loved People
Jesus loved everybody, but he didn’t love everybody the same. Do you realize that? He loved (and loves) every person on the planet. He loves every one of us so much, he laid down his life, for each of us. But when he was here, walking the earth, he loved different people differently. He fed 5,000, and then 4,000, for a total of 9,000, but he didn’t feed everybody. The people he fed were those who followed him and listened to him. He didn’t heal everybody. The people he healed were the ones who believed in him and cried out to him. He didn’t train everybody. He trained seventy-two of his closest followers as his ambassadors. (Luke 10) And then there’s the twelve. There were twelve who were especially close to him. He let them in, close, so they could see up close how he lived. He gave the twelve private insights into parables left unexplained to others. (Mark 4:10) And then there’s the three: Peter, James, and John. Jesus let these three in even closer. He loved Peter, James, and John by bringing them with him for the transfiguration, and when he raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and when he sweat great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane just before they took him away to be tried and sentenced to crucifixion in their kangaroo court system. Only the three were allowed to accompany Jesus during these occasions. (Matthew 17:1-11, Mark 5:35-43, Mark 14:32-52) Read More
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Posted on July 6, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too, Marriage
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